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Volume 11 ... #21
Shown By God How To Handle A Problem
Pam Padgett ... member of the body of Christ & spiritual
gift of helps
My next door neighbor is an elderly man named Jim, a widower living alone who has many health problems. It has become very hard for him to drive his car, so for the past few years I have taken him to doctor appointments.
Until a couple months ago he was able to walk with a cane pretty well. But then I noticed some problems with him keeping his balance. I suggested he use a walker but he insisted this wasn't necessary.
I was concerned and began praying about this.
One thought I had before a recent appointment was to borrow an unused wheelchair from another neighbor. I put the wheelchair in the car and told Jim I had this, but he insisted he could walk from near the front door to the doctor's office. He got out of the car and started toward the door, not waiting for me to get the wheelchair.
However he almost lost his balance at one point and I was barely able to steady him to keep him from falling.
This was frightening to me, but Jim seemed unaware of the danger.
His next appointment was a couple weeks later. I prayed diligently about how to handle this. Should I just refuse to take him unless he agreed to use the wheelchair?
Then in a thought I heard to tell Jim how much it scared me when he tried to walk to the previous appointment.
I told Jim that I was taking the wheelchair, but before I could tell him how much it scared me before, he started to resist. I just went on and told him how it scared me when he tried to walk to the office the time before.
He immediately stopped resisting and said "OK". Amazing! (Jim is a retired marine Lt. Colonel and doesn't easily back down.)
And when we got to the doctor's building he waited to get out of the car until I had the wheelchair ready.
As he sat down in the wheelchair I heard him say to himself, "That feels good!"
While coming home after the appointment he told me how much easier it was to use the wheelchair than for him to try to "hobble" to the doctor's office.
I'm so grateful that God gave me the way to handle this.
And using the wheelchair is much easier for both Jim and me!
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